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Why I’ve left MTN

So I’ve been shopping around in anon-seriousfashion in the last few months trying to figure out how best to leaveMTNand how get the best deal for me. I don’t like MTN since I became an “irate“, as I might call such a customer in theISP industry. MTN’s Customer-Service Call Centre had rarely been helpful or knowledgeable on their own systems. The final straw however was when their systems let me screw myself over and Customer Service was as helpful as a deadredshirt:

I had a billing issue where, admittedly, it started of myown fault. MTN has a feature where you can call in to find out the amount owing on your account. Only, asMurphywould have it, this amount washindithe amount owing on the account but thelastamount that wasbilled.

So one month my account was about R900. I called the number, mis-heard R500, paid the amount I thought I should: R500. 15 days later MTN suspended my account. No wrong done, right? Wrong.

First off, I received no notification of any kind. An sms would make the most sense, especially since it would cost MTN almost no resources: “Your account xyz is in arrears by R400. Please contact blah blah blah”. They could phone me, they could email me, something, but nothing of the sort happened. Suspend without Prejudice. Thats the best way to get the customer’s attention!

Now, not only could I not make calls and sms’s, I could not receive calls or sms’s. Further, Icould not even call MTN’stoll freephone number. I had to use someone else’s phone to get to the bottom of the problem. After two days of haggling I finally found a lady kind enough to re-enable the account. Ten days later my salary goes in, I call the same number and hear a number close to “R900”. I think to myself maybe I should double-check juuuust in case I mis-heard. I call again, I hear the same number again. Right. Pay the R900. Fifteen days later, my phone is suspended AGAIN. WTH?

Remember what I mentioned earlier?: “this amount washindithe amount owing on the account but thelastamount that wasbilled.” So, in spite of the fact that the voice prompt specifically says “Press 3 for Balance Due; [Presses 3] ; The Total Outstanding Balance is; Nine; hundred; at; #whatever ; Rands; at; #whatever; cents”, I actually owed them R900 plus the R400 that I’d paid short the previous month. No, I do not know if MTN has fixed this. I no longer care. Since I figured this out I started waiting for paper statements to see how much was actually due. Interestingly, their paper statements were also wrong. Only they had theoppositeproblem: “This invoice: R1300” in spite of the fact that on the next page it says opening balance “R400”, closing balance “R1300”. Pah! Is it fixed? Again, I don’t care.

I let them know I wasn’t renewing the contract and I’ve now already ported my number away to Virgin Mobile. Because I want to keep my number and port it elsewhere, the store said I could not put “unsatisfactory service” as the reason for ending the contract but that it should simply say “porting”. Apparently by putting anything else there they might not “notice” that I want it ported. WTF.

What next? (without MTN)

In my research I’ve found that contract “deals” are most popular. Typically, you can get a R8000 phone for R800 per month over 24 months with R500-odd worth of airtime per month. This amounts to you paying R19 200 over a 24-month period for a phone worth R8000 which will be obsolete within 12 buwan. You will get some airtime every month so you might feel its not a complete loss. However you should also remember that it costs the cellular companies nothing when you make those phone calls. Profit.

There’s a better way

There are much cheaper contracts, contracts for between R50 and R200 which include cheapish phones – phones that work damned well as a phone but won’t let you playgameson the train. Most of these contracts actually give you the same airtime value (sometimes more!) as what you are paying. So for R100 you might get R100 worth of airtime plus some free sms’s, and a cheapish phone. The best deals I’ve seen recently have all been for theSamsung STAR, an understated but good cell phone, available from a number of retailers for between R100 and R200 per month. In most cases the deals have included the full amount of airtime. Virgin Mobilehas probably the best example here: The cost is R199 per month which includes R200 in airtime and 1000 sms’s (oo, you read that right – one thousand!).

Virginal Service All the Way!

Another reason I’ve gone with Virgin Mobile is a little something no other service provider does: A “mixed” Contract/Prepaid facility. I get R200 in airtime however, if I go over that, the extra just gets added to my invoice. With MTN this could go sky high without the option of a limit! With Virgin, because I asked, it has a limit of R300. Gayunman, I can still add prepaid airtime (with cellphone banking, nogal). No other service provider lets you do this!

Remember that R8000 cell phone I mentioned earlier? My plan is to get the Samsung STAR and spend less than R300 per month. I’ll have saved enough money to actually go and buy a more expensive phone (or laptop) with the cash I’ll have saved! Oo naman, if you actuallyusethat R800-worth of phone calls, I guess the best available deal is where you spend the R19200 anyway. Maybe at least with a more critical view on your choices you’ll save yourself a good amount of money in future. Good luck in your search foryourbest deal!

Why is it that we’re so gullible?

I even considered for a whole second that my colleague had cross-checked the following SPAM before posting it on ourIRLnoticeboard. Please note that the following text originally had really bad-for-your-eyes fonts andcolours. 😉

Urgent Warning fromCell C, Vodacom & MTN!

[business card of a “Legal Representative” of the Special Investigating Unit]

Dear All,If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that, he or she isa company engineer, or saying that they’re checking your mobile line, and you haveto press # 90 o #09 or any other number.End this call immediately without pressing any numbers.There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 o #09 they canaccess your ‘SIM’ card and make calls at your expense.Forward this message to as many friends as you can, to stop it.All mobile users pay attention if you receive a phone call and your mobile phonedisplays (XALAN) on the screen don’t answer the call, END THE CALL IMMEDIATELY,if you answer the call, your phone will be infected by a virus..This virus will erase all IMEI and IMSI information from both your phone and your SIMcard, which will make your phone unable to connect with the telephone network. Youwill have to buy a new phone. This information has been confirmed by both Motorolaand Nokia.PLEASE FORWARD THIS PIECE OF INFORMATION TOALL YOUR FRIENDS HAVING A MOBILE.

The first things that got me thinking was the text denoting authority at the top of the page. Now, bear in mind this is on a noticeboard – not my inbox where my anti-spam senses are at their peak.

Who could possibly have the authority to say they’re sending out a notification on behalf of each of South Africa’s tri-opoly ofGSMproviders? Okay, so its some “Special” Legal team that sounds government-type. They’re legit – itturnsout – but they probably don’t have enough time to take my call asking if this is all true. Absolutely everything on the Internet must be true, especially anything I say. 😛

So anyway, now that we’re over the silliness, let’s break this hoax down:

Official Documentation

Bar a business card, which is hardly standard in any industry, there is no official contact information. I’d expect at least a letterhead or amisguidedtrailing disclaimer.

Presentation and Language

There are actually 2 notices here regarding separate threats however it isn’t obvious without reading the text in full. This is because the paragraphing and grammar are very poor. Government institutions don’t normally issue poorly-worded or paragraphed documentation. din, why not issue a separate notification regarding each threat separately?

There are no links to further resources

Any warning of this sort would undoubtedly offer further information or advertise the online presence of theinstitution. din, perhaps they’d like for you to give feedback on the situation or maybe they’d like us to report on further suspicious activity. But no. Nothing. Just a specific representative’s business card. What if the guy dies, finds a better job, o leavesthe country?

“There is a fraud company … “

This means that they haven’t any clue who it is. This is a broad and passive statement. Question whenever someone says “they” o “people who”. Who is this “fraud company”? Where is “there”? And why doesn’t this crack government legal team (who have to use chain mail to spread warnings) let us know through their uber-powerful chain mail network?

“Forward this message to as many friends as you can”

My, oh my. This line has probably been in every chain letter / social engineering virus (my special definition) since sliced bread.

“This information has been confirmed by both Motorola and Nokia.”

They’re trying to prevent you from thinking for yourself and try to verify their claims independently. They’re saying “You’re stupid to check. We already checked for you. :-D”. Oo naman, in reality, they’re just trying to take advantage of our gullible nature.

“#90 or #09” at “XALAN”

There isn’t any way for you to verify this. Again, question everything. Google’s first page of results is riddled with the words “Cell phone warning hoax”. duh.

If you get a message like the above from your friends, reply and tell them to stop sending spam… and maybe give them a link to this page so they know why. 🙂

I don’t receive muchspamto my mobile phone. I have received random sms’s on occasion about “special” offers and so forth. Someone also once sms’d “on my behalf” to one of thoselate-nighte-tvspecials adverts. Every month I receive an enticing message informing me about what I’m missing out on. I wonder though, is there a no-send list I can add myself to at MTN, Vodacom, or Cell-C?

Can any cellular provider list all the companies that have sent you sms’s through bulk sms systems in the last month, for example? And can I tell my cellular provider to CAN that SPAM without having to send an sms costing me R7.50 with the word “STOP”? [edit… turns out this SMS issupposedto be charged at the lowest possible rate. Thanks, Tumbleweed]

Lastly, I’ve heard of these services where you pay to receive content perpetually. Perpetually in that its a service where they assume you want them to charge you R5 every day to send you something. My sister had an issue where she never had airtime. It was because her R20 weekly allowance would be swallowed whole the next day by one of these “services” which sent her a silly picture and deducted R10. She could have downloaded the same or similar picture using her computer for about 5c usingGoogle'S image searchand I’d havesized and croppedit to fit her phone’s screen perfectly with no visible distortion or aliasing. At the same time, they claim copyright on the content which is LAME. I’ll bet they’re stealing the pictures from the Internet themselves anyway.

In the end it was easier for her to get a new prepaid number. I just hope that they’re not still going to send more content to whoever gets her old number after its recycled. 😮